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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
long term harp break in
long term harp break in
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walterharp
1018 posts
Jan 11, 2013
2:51 PM
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I know some claim that blowing lightly at first helps protect reeds. May or may not be true.
What I am interested in here is opinions on longer term harps getting easier to play.
It could be the reeds settle in.
It could be the player gets used to the harp.
Chris (Buddha) once said he does not like to clean his harps as they get sealed better by the gunk.
I have had a reed replaced so the ob squeals, yet over time the squeal goes away. It may be that my control changed, but I think it might be the actual characteristics of the reeds changing.
What do you all think? Can they get easier to play as the reeds change? Can the player actually alter the gapping toward their preferences by extended playing?
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Afro Blue
121 posts
Jan 11, 2013
2:55 PM
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Yes. I've had tough harps that I've worked in with time. Some harps will always be tough and never get easier. YOU will just get used to playing them the way they are. You can of course play so hard that you pull reeds out of tune or bend them too far and break the reed. I have done this on several 5-hole draws since that is usually a delicate reed for me.
Gapping however is probably the best approach since if you know what you are doing, you don't risk over doing it. As for OB, in my experience, the more you try breaking those in, the harder regular blow notes on those holes become. It seems as if a harmonica can get too used to being Overblown and the reed will become gapped too tightly. It's annoying. These are my experiences.
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Hunger is the best spice.
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arzajac
950 posts
Jan 11, 2013
3:09 PM
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Hi Walter.
"Chris (Buddha) once said he does not like to clean his harps as they get sealed better by the gunk."
I believe that explains 99 per cent of the phenomenon of "breaking in".
"I have had a reed replaced so the ob squeals, yet over time the squeal goes away."
Over how much time? If I set an out of the box harp to overblow today, I fully expect to have to go back and readjust it over the next week/month/two months... Something Richard Sleigh has been saying publicly for years is that when adjusting a harp, you should aim for "good enough", put it down and come back to it later (and start over). There is no such thing as getting perfection in one sitting.
So, do you think the reed was over-corrected which caused the squeal and then it fell into place over a relatively short period of time?
If it was a relatively long period of time, it's possible that debris and gunk made it more airtight.
"Can the player actually alter the gapping toward their preferences by extended playing?"
I don't think that you can alter the gapping of a reed in a meaningful may by playing it. I think you can manipulate the reed (by applying tension to parts of it) to adjust its resting place and it will fall back on its own over time. Playing it, plinking it or other interventions can accelerate the process of it getting back to its restingplace.
Hey, do you know my brother Rick? He teaches at the Salina campus. He's a year older than me, but I'm slightly more handsome.
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Last Edited by on Jan 11, 2013 3:12 PM
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nacoran
6382 posts
Jan 11, 2013
3:32 PM
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I'm not sure if the reeds will trend towards your preferred playing style, but I suspect the reed gaps drift over time, and metal fatigue may play a part too. I've sat and worried a piece of paperclip before, and the first couple times you bend it it's fairly stiff, but it gets more and more bendable the more you work it, until it snaps. Paperclips are a less springy grade of metal than reeds, but I imagine that's ultimately what's happening. Gapping probably gets thrown off too, but since each hole gets blown and drawn, I couldn't guess which way it drifts.
Gunk in a harp will make it more airtight, although enough gunk might change the tuning of your reeds. Gunk on the outside of the harp, particularly the cover plates, will shred your lips. I clean the outside of my harps all the time. The inside, unless something doesn't sound right, I prefer to be a dark mysterious wonderland. :)
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Nate
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